Tuesday, December 23, 2014

About two and a half years ago we promoted Simpson Strong-tie's Wall Bracing Calculator. A new contender has entered the ring, APA (the plywood people). We played around with their new calculator and found it to be a little different than Simpson's. For one, the walls are adjustable more on the fly. With Simpson, you need to use their Java back button and re-enter inputs. With APA you can see changes as you go. The biggest difference is that you can enter each braced wall section and opening so that APA can calculate not only the total wall bracing needed, but each panel as qualifying or not. Pretty slick.

To play around with it, go here. You will need an account to access their website but it's totally worth it.

And make sure you save your work (as an XML file, very cool) before exporting to a pdf. The pdf feature is temporarily broken. *edit* PDF function fixed. But the xml feature tells me that I could edit the hard data in a text editor, similar to a Google Earth kml file. Take that, Simpson!

Wednesday, December 3, 2014

"200 Square Feet" our first ebook is now live and free for a limited time. You can find it on Amazon or check here for other international markets. Free promo period will end on Saturday at midnight PST (UTC -8:00). If you are interested in tiny house ideas, details, and designs, please check out the book. We've included over a dozen different plans for 200sf and smaller shelters. We've also set up a support website for the book. Of course, your referrals and reviews are highly appreciated. Send us your questions and comments!

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